Chapter Text
“ I’m Jonathan, by the way” he said outstretching his arm to help her up.
“Nancy” she offered, still a bit shaken. His hands were warm and strong against her petite fingers.
“Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I think so” but her voice was thin.
“Wait, are you claustrophobic? Because I read somewhere you have to take deep breaths and-
“I’m not, I’m fine, really. Thank you… I’m just… It’s my first day of work, well internship, here at the Times and I won’t make it on time”
“Really? That’s wonderful! The internship I mean, not that you won’t make it” he added nervously, scratching his head.
“Thanks”
It was nice to put a name on the face. Jo-na-than, it rolled easily on her tongue. Well, she guessed there could be worse people to get stuck in an elevator with.
“Yeah, uhm, we’re trapped here. We’re in two, around the 8th floor I think.” Jonathan was talking to the comm-link on the wall.
“Okay, hang in there. Unfortunately there have been many problems with elevators today, so a team should be there in about an hour or so. Sorry. Stay calm and let me know if there any problems”
An hour or so?
Jonathan huffed, passing his hand through his hair, making it even more unruly. “I’m sorry…”
“For what? How is this your fault? It’s just the universe not giving me a break”
“Yeah, tell me about it” he said laughing softly and sitting on the ground.
Nancy sat down beside him, a few inches apart from his hips. If she was stuck here for an hour she might as well be comfortable.
She turned her head.
“So, uhm… photography?”
Jonathan looked confused for a second before saying “Yes, I’m new here as well. Started a few days ago. Nothing groundbreaking, I go and cover the minor stuff, but it’s the New York Times and it still gives me enough time to do my own work”
“And what’s your own work?”
“Well, I like to go around the city, taking photos of people passing by, of anything that catches my eye, really.”
“That’s cool” she replied. He had the looks of an artsy type. Handsomely bohemièn, slim, but with strong and toned arms -thank you too short sweater- that Nancy was sure, could carry her with no problem. Or hoist her up. On a counter. Up the wall.
Keep you head out of the gutter, Wheeler. What was wrong with her? Well, probably the lack of sex, the voice in her head said, whom she imagined as a little devil on her left shoulder, poking her with its little red pitchfork.
She had broken up with Steve, her high school boyfriend, during the first year of college. He had stayed behind, in Hawkins, Indiana, and it just hadn’t worked out for either of them. Since then Nancy had dated a couple guys, they were sweet, but if she still preferred her own hands they couldn’t be described as “boyfriend material” as her best friend Barb used to say. She missed Barb, she was studying Biology in Chicago and they didn’t see each other as often as they would like, hence the never-ending calls between the two.
“Are you from New York?”
“Me? No. Uh uh. I’m from Hawkins, Indiana, where it’s all made of corn. I attend Columbia, though, last year of journalism, actually”
He smiled at her, the corner of his eyes crinkling.
“What?”
“Nothing, it’s just… you don’t seem like a hoosier.”
“And how would you happen to know that?” she asked, a bit defensive.
“Well, I’m from Indiana as well. Actually I lived in Hawkins for the first three years of my life, or so my mom says, I don’t remember it very well.”
“Really? I can’t believe it! And you live here now?”
“Yeah I went to NYU, graduated a few months ago. I live in Brooklyn with my friend Andy and his girlfriend. My mom and my brother live outside of Gary, we moved there when she was pregnant, to get away from my father. Haven’t seen him much since”
“I’m sorry” she said softly.
“It’s okay, it’s better that way, trust me. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this” Jonathan said looking down, toying with the hem of his cream-coloured jumper.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind. Besides” she added with a sly smile “if we were in a movie that’s what we would be supposed to do, to fill the space, make the other empathize, to entertain the audience, you know”
He laughed, a bit red on the cheeks. They looked good enough to kiss.“Yeah, you’re right”
“So, you watch lots of rom-coms, then?”
Jonathan looked up, eyes wide.
“Wha- n-no, I mean-it’s my mom, she-”
“Relax, I won’t tell anyone” she joked, bumping his shoulder with hers.
They had somehow, during their conversation, got really close. Their hips were touching and Nancy could see the hint of stubble covering his jaw, his really defined jaw. She followed the outline of his neck, little moles scattered on his skin, his adam’s apple bobbing.
“Nancy?”
“Uh” she let out.
“Want some Sour Patch Kids?”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was torture, Nancy was sure of it. He had the most kissable lips and everytime a bright candy went into his mouth, she felt ten degrees hotter. She just wished she was one of those Sour Patch Kids, being sucked into his mouth.
Nancy sighed, before getting up on her feet. She needed to take off her blazer.
“Is everything okay?”
Nancy ran an hands through her hair, laughing nervously “It’s just...I would have never imagined in a million years that I would spend my first day at The New York Times stuck in an elevator with a stranger eating Sour Patch Kids”
Jonathan smiled looking up at her “And what’s the weirdest part? The elevator, me or the Sour Patch Kids?”
“You. Definitely you.” she said, her nose scrunching up.
His whole face lit up with a lopsided grin spreading. Nancy sat down again, smiling at him.
Their faces were inches apart and she wore Jonathan stared at her lips before looking into her eyes and
“ Are you still there?” a loud voice boomed in the elevator, causing them to spring apart.
Jonathan got up to the comm-link “Yeah, we’re here.”
“ The team is on the way. A few minutes and you’ll be out. I’m really sorry this happened. ”
He turned towards her.
“A few minutes until freedom”
“So it seems” she forced out.
If Barb was here she would be shoving their faces together as if they were two dolls she wanted to kiss each other yelling “Now. Kiss”
Nancy admitted that her friend could be a little on the heavy side reguaring meddling in her love life, but she never received, not once, bad advice.
She hoped the spirit of Barb would be with her because Nancy never retreated. And she would be damned if she came out of the elevator not knowing what Jonathan’s lips tasted like.
What was the worst thing that could happen? Him rejecting her? Well, yes. But Nancy couldn’t think like that and anyway, if things got bad they would be out of there in a matter of minutes.
“So… you know, the volume of this elevator isn’t that much.” she began taking a step towards him.
He was staring at her, a stare so hot she could melt in puddle right there.
“Yeah” he half whispered.
“Well, oxygen is only the 21% of the whole volume of air and since it’s such a precious resource I think we sh-
She squealed as he hauled her up against the wall and kissed her like he was a man starving.
Nancy moaned as he traced the seam of her lips, before plunging his tongue in her mouth.
She gripped his hair, soft smooth hair, as Jonathan pressed against her hot center, seeking for some kind of friction. The harder she tugged, the more he moaned, grinding against her.
He nipped at her neck, sending surges of sweet electricity through her body.
Nancy needed this. Like she needed air and an organized study space.
She was sure that Jonathan would be so good with hands -and mouth- she wouldn't even miss her own. She just had to prove that with facts.
Definitely boyfriend material.